Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an operating system to be installed on a host computer to control an operation of the host computer, and also to update processing for various types of application software installed on a host computer.
Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, consideration is taken to an operating system (OS) installed on a host computer or the like to control an operation of the host computer so that the OS is always updated to the latest version. In this case, the host computer accesses a server (OS server) on a network, which is configured to provide the latest version of the OS, and when the latest version of the OS provided, processing to update the OS is performed. The OS server may include software, e.g., various types of applications to be installed on the host computer. Some pieces of software to be updated may have their base portion (hereinafter referred to as “generation”), e.g., a configuration or architecture of an old version of software changed greatly in some cases.
For example, there has hitherto been provided a system in which a printer driver is automatically installed when a host computer and a printing apparatus are connected by a cable, e.g., a USB cable. Further, a plurality of printer drivers that are greatly different from each other (different in base, e.g., architecture) are provided. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-160318, there is provided a configuration for allowing a user to choose which of the printer drivers is to be installed in such a case.
As described above, there has hitherto been provided a system for automatically executing update processing based on update information for software or the like. However, there is a problem in that a user does not always desire all pieces software to be updated automatically. A reason for this that can be given is, for example, that the user is accustomed to using an old version of software, or that software is strictly managed by the user's company and an installation test is conducted at the time of installation. In order to solve this problem, there have been proposed solutions including displaying, at the time of update, a message for confirming with a user as to whether or not to allow the update. However, some types of software can be installed while allowing pieces of different versions of software or pieces of software having different architectures to coexist. In such a case, there are prepared a method of updating an old version of software with a new one and a method of installing software while allowing a plurality of pieces of software, i.e., old and new versions or software, to coexist, and it is also possible to use one of those methods properly depending on an intended use. Therefore, there is a problem in that update processing of merely updating a lower version of software with a higher version thereof is insufficient in some cases.